IPOH: Azlan Shah Cup Tournament director Dallas Riseley announced that the play-off and the final matches of the tournament will be decided through a shootout instead of the usual penalty stroke tie-breakers.                                 

The trial run will start from May 15 in the play-offs and the final. The shootout will be under trial by the FIH before the 2012 London Olympics and will be applied to the matches at the Champions Trophy and the Olympic qualifiers if it is converted into a rule by then.

In case of a deadlocked match after extra time, the shootout requires five players from each team to take on the goalkeeper one on one. The striker has eight seconds to enter the striking circle and score.

Like the penalty tie-breaker, if the deadlock persists after the five mandatory attempts by each team, the shootout will go into sudden-death.

Former legendary hockey players of Pakistan believe that the new rule of a shoot out instead of a penalty stroke would be very interesting and would help the deserving team win.

“The team, which would have better players, certainly would get a better chance to use the new rule as compared to penalty stroke tie breakers,” Samiullah told PPI.